The Daily Reveille sports staff shares their thoughts following LSU’s 74-72 loss to Texas A&M. 
How will the Tigers respond? | Chris Caldarera
Life is riddled with uncontrollable obstacles and adversities that make it difficult, if not impossible, to reach the goals we set out to accomplish. To put it plainly, life isn’t fair, and the LSU Tigers discovered that simple fact last Saturday against Texas A&M.
A chance at a New Year’s Six bowl game vanished right before the Tigers’ eyes, and the chance at a 10-win season is now at risk, largely due to the uncontrollable circumstance of poor officiating.
Now that LSU is on the outside looking in at a New Year’s Six bowl, the team is faced with a choice. The Tigers can either enter whatever bowl game they are awarded uninspired and end another football season on a disappointing note, or the team can choose to make a statement and capture the first 10-win season since 2013. The choice sounds simple, but flushing the season-ending debacle in College Station down the toilet will be easier said than done.
Life isn’t fair, and sometimes we’re dealt a poor hand. However, the true measure of a person lies in the way he or she responds to the world’s uncontrollable circumstances, and sports teams are no different. I believe LSU’s response in its bowl game will reveal a lot about the men that make up this year’s football team, and lay a solid foundation heading into next season.
Speechless | Brandon Adam
I don’t know what to say. That game was wild.
Tigers in good hands at quarterback | Glen West
Time after time on Saturday night, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was asked to deliver, and every time the Tigers needed a score, Burrow stepped up.
The junior Ohio State-transfer dominated the game like I’ve never seen a LSU quarterback dominate before. Burrow had 162 of the 164 LSU yards at halftime, and when all was said and done, had combined for 370 total yards and six touchdowns, three in the air and three on the ground.
The 67 times Burrow passed or rushed the ball were the most plays by an LSU player in school history and the six touchdowns broke a school record.
One could obviously point to the seven overtime’s and say the length of the game led to the bloated stats, but the point is that Burrow delivered in crunch time, which he’s done more often than not this season.
Add it all up and Tiger fans should feel very confident in the quarterback situation heading into next season with a stacked recruiting class, including an overhaul of offensive linemen.
A real rivalry? | Kenned Landry 
Since the Aggies arrived in the SEC in 2012, the conference has been trying to make Texas A&M-LSU a rivalry. And for six years it has been anything but that. 
The Aggies almost surely would rather be playing the Texas Longhorns on Rivalry Week, and LSU has a plethora of rivals across the SEC that make the Aggies a nonfactor. 
On Saturday, that all changed. 
LSU fell 74-72 in College Station in a seven-overtime thriller in which many argue that the Tigers won three separate times before they ultimately lost. It was a matchup that LSU won eight straight times that suddenly turned into the most interesting game of the weekend, and possibly the season. 
The SEC wanted a rivalry, and Saturday was the start of a heated one.